


A lonely cabin in the woods

by murmeltearding



Category: Zoo (TV)
Genre: Animals, Baking, Break Up, Candles, Cliche, Cooking, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Forests, Hiking, Language, Literal Sleeping Together, Minor Injuries, Nature, Only One Bed, Poker, Rain, Sleeping Together, Slow Burn, Strip Poker, cottages, mitch being a vet, sleeping together for warmth, slow burn but also kind of not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:34:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24569344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murmeltearding/pseuds/murmeltearding
Summary: Long before the events of the series even start, Mitch is trying to escape life, especially the part of his life where his father marries the girlfriend he stole from Mitch.He rents a cabin in the woods to get off the grid for two weeks.His hostess takes him there only to suffer a little injury on their way to the cottage. There's no way she can get get back home and she has to stay...
Relationships: Mitch Morgan/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 7





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, I'm kind of late even watching this series and I honestly watched it mostly for Mitch because honestly... it isn't a very good series... but Mitch is just such an amazing character and I love him with all I have... 
> 
> I kind of played with all the clichés there are. Usually I try to avoid those in my writing, but in this one, I just went with it. So expect to cringe!

“What? No! You… you don’t mean that!”

“I mean it… I should have ended this five months ago, when I first met her…”

I took a step towards Tris and gripped his hand. “But… we wanted to go to Canada this summer!”

“You wanted to… I didn’t. And that doesn’t matter anyways!” He pulled his hand out of mine and shook his head. “It’s over, Ella. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be!”

There are five stages to grief. With his statement, he had just pushed me into the second one. Anger. “Harder than it has to be? You cheated on me for four full months! That’s about as hard as its going to be for me!” How dare he cheat on me? “How dare you cheat on me, you fucking ass!” I stepped close to him and went up on tiptoe so our noses almost touched. “Fucking asshole!” I pushed him, hard, and he took a step backwards.

“Careful, Ella!” He gripped my wrist.

“You be fucking careful!” I muttered, trying to pull away.

Tristan squeezed tighter for one second reminding me who was the stronger one in this and then let go of me. “I’ll bring you your stuff in a couple of days.” He turned around to leave.

“And I’ll burn your stuff in the back yard,” I shouted after him.

“Yea, whatever…” He slammed the door shut behind him and I was alone.

+++

One week later, I was wrist deep in a sink full of dishes when the doorbell rang. The past couple of days had been hard but that didn’t mean I could just push pause on my life. And that included receiving lodgers and taking them up to my cabin.

I wiped my hands on my hiking pants and moved to open the front door.

Before me stood a tall, skinny guy in his 40s. Dark hair, dark eyebrows, thick framed glasses and some scruff around his chin that made him look a little as if he could use some time off.

He wore tan hiking pants and a blue and black checkered flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Behind him, a black, middle aged sedan parked in my driveway.

“Hi, I’m Ella,” I said. “And you must be Mitch?”

“Yea, Hi,” he said and took my hand. Some guys, my ex being one of them, shook hands as if they had to prove something. Not Mitch. His shake was strong but not unpleasantly so.

“You’re early. Do you want some coffee while I finish the dishes and get ready for our hike?”

“Sure, why not.” He followed me inside and sat down at my kitchen table.

“So, how did you find me?” I asked, putting a cup under the coffeemaker and pushing the button before going back to washing the dishes. “What makes you want to spend two weeks in the woods all by yourself?”

Shrugging, he shot me an apologetic smile. “… things…” he slowly said.

“Sorry, it’s none of my business of course, I know! Milk? Sugar?” I placed the cup before him.

“No, thank you.” He took a careful sip.

I turned back to my washing up and took out the bowl Tristan had given me for our first anniversary. It had a cat printed on it and the words _you’re purrrfect_ printed on the bottom. I sighed. I loved that stupid bowl. But it would forever remind me of him…

When my grandfather had died a couple years ago, there hadn’t been a whole lot of things or money for him to leave to anyone. He had spent his last years in a retirement home 40 minutes from here and the small cabin he had left me had gone from a nice place for a child to spend her summers in to a sad, old ruin.

I had been left with the choice of either leaving it to rot or fixing it back up. Financially, the first option would definitely have been the better one. Emotionally there had never been a question of fixing it back up. It had taken me a couple of months and all of my savings and then some to renovate and redecorate.

Neither running water nor electricity was available so far out in the woods, but a nearby spring and a generator I had bought that could be used to power two outlets for charging laptops or things like that made it inhabitable.

It was nice and cozy enough to rent it out and earn back the money I had invested… and hopefully sometime soon, make a profit from it.

There was a bumpy old trail up to the cottage I used to bring up food, fresh linens and the like, but part of the experience was to hike up to it, to give my lodgers a feeling of the land and to make them aware how utterly alone they would really be once I left them. It was about half a day’s hike and I usually took it with my guests since there was no proper trail.

Mostly young couples who wanted to be by themselves for a time rented my cottage for a weekend. Sometimes it was Writers, seeking a quiet refuge to get on with their work. They usually rented it for a couple weeks or even months at a time. So far, three bestsellers had been written up there. Once I had even been mentioned in the acknowledgements. Sometimes burnt out Business Executives rented the cabin for a week to rediscover themselves and the rarest group were simply weirdos who didn’t talk much.

Mitch hadn’t mentioned anything about wanting to write, so he probably wasn’t an author. Writers had a tendency to tell everyone they met they were working on a new book.

He didn’t seem like a weirdo, just because he looked much too smart for that.

Which left only one option. Burnt out. The dark circles under his eyes and the tired aura he had about him also pointed in that direction.

Either way, it didn’t matter to me. He had paid upfront and in the few e-mails we had exchanged, he had been pleasant enough, so whatever he wanted to do up there, I was okay with it.

Some people kept chatting so much on the hike up, it felt as if they had to get out everything they wanted to say for the next couple of days or they would explode.

Mitch didn’t.

He had put on his hiking boots and backpack while I had locked up my house and simply followed me.

We had been on the trail for an hour and he couldn’t have said more than ten words.

I had explained to him the usual. About how he really would have neither phone reception nor Wi-Fi up there, just like it said in my ad on the internet. About how there was a generator and fuel for about twenty hours, about the spring and about how I would come back to check on him and bring him food and fresh linens a week from today.

He had taken in all the information with quiet nods and didn’t seem to feel the urge to add anything, so we remained quiet.

I carried a backpack with water and provisions for our hike. Depending on how fast my guests walked and how many breaks they needed, the way to the cabin took somewhat between four and six hours. Mitch declined the first chance for a break and pushed on, just taking a couple sips of water.

Under normal circumstances I didn’t mind leaving out the Smalltalk, but these days, my brain was preoccupied with Tris and I couldn’t bear the silence. I didn’t want to start crying in front of a perfect stranger. I needed to take my mind off of my asshole of an ex.

“So, what do you do for a living?” I asked.

“I’m a Veterinary Pathologist,” Mitch courtly answered.

“A what?”

“A Veterinary Pathologist,” he repeated, slower. “Like those walking clichés on CSI that cut up dead bodies and see what they died of… I do that, just… with animals.”

“Huh,” I made. Those must be the most words he had said to me ever since the morning. “And… do you like it?”

He nodded. “Animal carcasses tend to keep people away. Gives me a lot of time to myself…”

I chuckled. “You don’t much like people, huh?”

“Well… let’s say I prefer them when they’re not around.”

Yea, that explained why he would go on a holiday in a remote cottage in the woods. “Yea, I get that,” I muttered.

He raised his eyebrows at me. “You do?”

I shrugged. “Sure! Or do you think I live in the back of beyond because I’m such a people person?”

Looking at me for what seemed like the first time he nodded.

We took a break at the halfway point up the mountain, sitting down on a sunny rock. The weather was pleasantly warm today and I was out in only a t-shirt, but according to the forecast it would be rainy for the next few days.

I hoped I would be able to make it up to the cottage a week from now. The trail tended to get muddy to a point where even my small jeep couldn’t get through if it rained heavily for a few days.

“What do you do for a living then?” he asked. “You can’t live off of renting out your cottage, considering what you’re asking for two weeks.”

I snorted. “Not by far… I own a small online travel agency and help out in local businesses in the months it doesn’t pay the bills, which is… most months.”

“Interesting choice of career,” he said.

“Yea well, there isn’t a lot you can really do in an area like this,” I shrugged. “But I like it! Gives me lots of free time, makes me independent.”

“True,” he agreed.

We ate and rested and continued on in silence after that, listening to the sounds of the forest only; trees creaking in the wind, birds chirping and looking for mates, insects buzzing.

It was peaceful; a nice day for a hike.

Tristan still would have bitched about it all the way. I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about him now.

“I got a little special refreshment here too, in case you want,” I muttered, half pulling a flask from the side pocket of my backpack.

Mitch nodded appreciatively. “Sure, why not!”

I handed him the flask and he took a deep swig, grimacing when he gave it back. I took a sip as well. It wasn’t good, but it might help get my mind away from Tris.

Half an hour of listening to the birds overhead and clapping away the mosquitos that wanted to suck my blood later, Mitch suddenly stopped next to me. He put his finger to his lips, pointing towards our right with his other hand.

I smiled when I noticed the group of deer grazing on a clearing. Two fawns playfully dashed around among them without a care in the world. They looked incredibly peaceful.

We watched in silent awe, feeling oddly honored to be allowed so close.

Mitch shifted his weight and a twig broke under his foot. They all looked up and one of the adults spotted us. In a second all of them were alert and the whole family of them dashed off and away. The moment was over, but the feeling remained. As if we were under a spell.

We took a moment to collect ourselves before we moved on.

It wasn’t far now.

The cabin was within sight already when we had another, much less magical encounter.

Slowing down, I reached for Mitch’s arm and pointed at the wild sow and her three shoats, barely daring to breathe.

Wild sows weren’t the gentlest of creatures under normal circumstances, but a sow with a rut of shoats was bad news.

And she had spotted us too.

Keeping my eyes trained on them I started moving forwards, slowly, trying my very hardest to seem harmless… and slipped.

A sharp pain in my ankle made me cry out. Shit.

Mitch pulled me to my feet and the hasty movement was the literal straw to break the camel’s… or in our case sow’s back. My grandpa had always warned me about this exact situation when I’d been a kid. There was only one thing to do. Get out of here and into the cabin… and fast.

Each step sent a painful stab up my leg from my ankle, but I really didn’t want to meet that sow up-close and personal.

Was she following us? Or was she content in having scared us off?

I didn’t look back, just pushed myself to keep up with Mitch.

My ankle hurt like crazy, pounding with every step by the time we made it up the small front porch of the cabin.

Unlocking the door with shaking hands, I let us inside and dropped to the floor, cradling my leg and fighting back tears.

Mitch closed the door behind us and dropped his backpack directly below it as if he wanted to bar the entrance. And I couldn’t blame him for it. That had been scary.

He took a moment to catch his breath, watching me watch him.

I took deep, slow breaths in an attempt to calm down and carefully started unlacing my boot to assess the damage.

The pounding intensified the looser the laces got and I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth when Mitch took over and pulled the shoe and sock off my foot.

He examined me with gentle fingers. “Sprained,” he muttered, his hand lingering on my leg. “You got a first aid kit?”

Nodding, I pushed my backpack towards him, careful not to move my ankle. It was bruised and swollen to what felt like twice its original size.

Mitch rummaged through my pack and the first aid kit and liberally sprayed my ankle with cooling-spray.

I sighed with relief as the pounding dulled and lowered back onto my elbows. “How bad is it?”

“Bad enough I can tell you, you won’t walk down that trail anytime soon,” he said, slowly starting to wrap up my ankle.

I silently watched him work. He seemed like he had done this before. And he probably had… on a cow or something. He was right about me not being able to walk of course. I had kind of known that from the very first minute it happened, but… “You sure?”

He didn’t look up from his work. “Even someone a lot less smart than I am could tell you it’s bad. So yes, I’m sure.”

I continued to watch him in silence, thinking about what to do. We couldn’t call for help. I could send him back into town to get someone, but not as long as that sow was outside…

“I… we…” I started, not sure how exactly to finish the sentence.

“You need to spare your ankle for a couple days. There’s no phone reception and we don’t have a car. You’ll stay,” he said, obviously having come to the same conclusion as I had.

Still… “You sure?” I repeated.

“Did you fall on your head too?”

I laughed weakly. “I don’t think so. Just… I don’t want to intrude on your holiday… there’s only the one bed.”

“And I’d love to take that, thank you for offering. The sofa looks very comfortable for you to sleep on.”

I had been half prepared to offer to take the sofa, but he had stopped that discussion before we’d even had a chance to start it. That was one way to do this.

He finished with the wrapping and looked his work over once more before getting to his feet, reaching his hands out for me.

I got up as well, tenderly testing my foot. It still hurt, but the cooling spray had numbed it to a bearable level. I limped into the kitchen and sat down on one of the chairs.

“Normally, I’d give you the tour, but…”

“I’ll find my way,” Mitch muttered, looking around.

Yea, I was sure of that. The cabin only consisted of two rooms. The main room was shaped like an L with the kitchen, including a kitchen island that doubled as a breakfast table at the top of the upwards dash. Even without electricity, the kitchen was fully functional. I had had an underground ‘fridge’ built in that kept perishables cool during the warmer months. The wood burning stove doubled as a heating unit during the cooler months.

The small desk to the left of the entry door was nice and sunny in the mornings. My Writer-guests seemed to be especially into that.

The living room area was situated at the bottom dash of the L shape. I had collected books of all genres over the years and filled the shelves left and right of the sofa. My guests took and left books as they pleased, so it was a colorful collection that hopefully offered something for everyone.

The bedroom, in the space between both L dashes was just big enough for the double bed and a small wardrobe.

It wasn’t a luxurious cabin, but that wasn’t what I had gone for. It was clean, comfortable and cozy. My lodgers never failed to tell me how much they enjoyed their stay, so I was positive I had done something right.

Mitch put the first aid kit back together and went to check if the sow was still out there before he sat down on the sofa and unlaced his boots. He tossed his backpack into the bedroom and that seemed to be all the ‘getting settled’ he was going to do for the moment.

Without another word, he lay down on top of the bed, took off his glasses and closed his eyes, leaving the bedroom door open.

I chuckled. Yea, I had guessed he’d do that. He looked tired.

From where I sat in the kitchen, I had a perfect view into the bedroom. Once I was reasonably sure Mitch was asleep, I got up and limped to unpack the food I had brought in my backpack. I had taken up the bulk of the groceries yesterday, in my car, along with fresh linens and fuel for the generator, but Mitch had made some last minute additions to his grocery list after I had already been back home and, dedicated hostess that I was, I had bought his extras and taken them up today.

This was the first time in a while I was up here without cleaning equipment or any real work to do. Since I wouldn’t be going anywhere for a couple days at least, I figured I might take the chance and experience my cabin the way my lodgers might. I limped to the bookshelf and checked the new additions and pulled out one of those cheap romance novels one could usually buy at the train station. _If I only had a Duke._ It looked like an easy read and I could use some romance after last week...

… or maybe not.

Only half an hour later I was in tears over the novel. How dare that idiotic Duke take Lady Cordelia over Anna? How fucking dare he?

Mitch had been snoring softly but rubbed his eyes and sat up when a particularly hard sob escaped me.

“What are you doing?” he muttered, frowning as he put on his glasses and brushed a hand through his messy hair.

I sniffled and hastily wiped my face to hide my tears… which was useless, considering he was looking straight at me.

“Nothing,” I muttered.

Mitch rolled out of bed and came towards me, plucking the novel out of my hands, snorting when he saw the cover.

“Don’t… someone left it and…” I tried defending myself.

“Yet you’re the one crying over it.”

“I’m not crying over that stupid book, it just… it hits close to home…”

He sat down next to me and put the book back on the counter, dog earing the page before closing it. “Want to talk about it?”

I hesitated. Was he serious?

“Well?” he put his head to the side for a second, like a Golden Retriever, before going back to his serious expression.

Sobbing, I wiped my eyes again. I didn’t usually talk about my feelings all that much, least of all to perfect strangers, but I was hurting and he seemed willing to listen… And we’d be stuck here for another couple of days, so…

“My…” I sniffled, “my boyfriend of five years left me last week…” I sniffled harder, “for another woman.” I buried my face in my hands, not wanting him to see my fresh tears.

Mitch sighed deeply.

“Sorry, I… I shouldn’t put this on you…”

“No,” he said, “it’s alright. Believe me when I say this: men… are awful.”

That made me laugh. “I know, right?”

“Right.”

I leaned back in my chair and hugged myself.

“This might not mean a lot, considering we only met a couple hours ago, but: I’d say forget about him. It’s his loss!” And, after a short break: “You should elevate your foot, come on.” He got up and walked around me to help me get up too. Supporting me at the elbow, he ushered me to the sofa and made me put my legs up on the table.

I sniffled some more but managed to mostly compose myself by the time he sat down with me. “He cheated on me for four months! And I didn’t suspect a thing!” I continued.

Mitch nodded. “Been there, done that.” He hesitated, as if unsure how to continue. “My father and my ex-girlfriend moved in together last month.”

I blinked at him. “What?”

“My girlfriend cheated on me with my father. And they’re going to get married,” he elaborated.

No, I couldn’t have heard that right. “What?” I repeated.

“My ex-girlfriend will be my step-mother from next weekend.”

“No, that… are you serious?”

He nodded.

“That’s fucked up.”

“That’s what I said.”

“So, we’re kinda sitting in the same boat… literally and figuratively,” I muttered, laughing a sad little laugh.

Mitch half smiled. “Seems like it. Pathetic…” He didn’t elaborate what exactly he found pathetic. “How about some food?”

I sat up straighter. “Yea, right! So, I umm… I got everything you asked me for, plus staples I keep here all the time. There’s a small cooling chamber in the kitchen floor… I’ll show you,” I made to get up, but he stopped me.

“Stay. I’ll find it. You keep that leg propped up and rest.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he stopped me with a lifted finger. Well, whatever made him happy. “Can I at least have my book?”

“Are you going to cry over it again?” He took the book and made to toss it towards me.

“I’ll try not to.” Catching it out of the air, I leaned back and opened it again, half watching him cook over the edge of it every now and then. He looked like a guy who knew his way around a kitchen, even though he had ordered so much cereal and sugary stuff, I hadn’t been sure if he was a grown man or a diabetic child.

How did he stay so skinny, eating like that?

I focused back on my book but quickly got bored. The protagonists didn’t like each other yet, but they would of course find each other during the second half of the book and realize they had been made for each other all along.

“You alright with the stove?” I asked and laboriously got to my feet. The sound of the oven door opening and shutting repeatedly made me uneasy.

“I hate to say it, but… no,” he admitted.

I limped towards him. “Let me,” I said and gently pushed him to the side to assess what he had done in the fire box. His arm felt nice and strong where I touched him. It made me wonder what exactly it was that a Veterinary Pathologist did.

I sorted out the mess he had made and let him see how to do it before lighting a match and putting it inside.

Both of us watching first the paper then the wood chips catch fire through the small opening brought us close together. He smelled nice, even over the smell of woodsmoke that filled the kitchen.

I abruptly pulled myself up and took a step away from him. What was I doing? He was my customer. You didn’t sniff customers… or notice how strong their arms were. Yet… I found him more and more likable the more time I spent with him. Likable and… sexy.

“Thank you, now go sit back down,” he ordered, ushering me out of the kitchen, putting his hands left and right on my shoulders.

I didn’t want to go back to the sofa. “Can’t I sit here and watch you?” I muttered, holding on to the kitchen island and showing off how good I was by lifting my injured leg up on the second chair.

He exhaled deeply. “I think I changed my mind about you staying here.”

“Too bad… because to get me out of here, you’ll have to walk down into town and get someone… and there’s an angry sow outside that won’t like that very much.” I grinned.

“Won’t anyone come looking for you once they notice you’re missing?”

I shrugged, sitting down on the closer one of the chairs. “Maybe… but probably not for a couple more days. I’m not a very outgoing person.”

“Could have fooled me.” He gave up on getting me back to the sofa and turned his back to me as he continued his cooking.

I watched him and managed to keep most comments to myself. I didn’t really want to annoy him, but I figured he was the kind of person who kind of enjoyed being kind of annoyed.

I liked that kind of person. Tris had been the kind of person that didn’t particularly enjoy being annoyed and he had made it very clear on more than one occasion.

That thought made me wonder why I had even put up with him for so long. Then I remembered his smile and how it had made me feel as if the sun had risen every time he had directed it at me… and the way he had kissed me… and the way he had made love with me… All that had happened so long ago though. The past few months together had been different. I should have noticed something was off…

My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes again. Fuck. I had promised not to cry. But it hurt so badly… the things we had planned to do together… the 2.5 children and dog we could have had…

Mitch turned around to look at me at the first sniffle.

“No crying,” he reminded me, pointing his knife at me.

“Sorry,” I wiped my nose and rolled my eyes to get the tears to stop.

“Here, cut this,” he said and placed a cutting board and knife with a couple cloves of garlic before me.

“Aye Aye, Sir,” I said, taking up the knife.

“And no crying on the food.”

The cabin was on the east side of the mountain. That and the dense forest made it go dark relatively early. The upcoming clouds might also be adding to that.

Cooking took a little longer on the wood burning stove than it would on an electrical one and by the time we finished, I had gotten up and lit a couple of candles so we could still see. It was… oddly comfortable, even though it also felt kind of weird, sitting by candlelight with a stranger…

Raindrops had started falling and made a comfortable concerto for our dinner, drumming against the windows and on the roof.

The stove heated the air in the cabin, but I would still have liked a sweater. I had goosebumps on my arms and hugged myself to warm up.

The moment we finished eating, mostly in silence, I went to get one of the blankets from the bedroom and made myself comfortable on the sofa, taking one of the candles with me. It gave enough light for some more reading, a different book this time though. I couldn’t bear starting to cry in front of Mitch again.

Mitch put the dishes to the side to be washed tomorrow, and started a game of solitaire on the kitchen counter.

The sound of him turning and shuffling the cards was so soothing I quickly felt my eyes grow heavy.

Putting the book on the coffee table, I made myself comfortable on the sofa and was asleep within minutes.


	2. Night 1

I woke up freezing.

It was dark in the cabin, only the glow coming through the crates on the stove made for the barest of illumination. Shivering, I hugged myself and pulled the blanket around myself tighter. To no use. It was still raining outside and the insulation on the cabin was practically nonexistent. I’d have to keep that in mind for the future.

Wrapping the blanket around my shoulders, I limped into the kitchen and put another piece of wood into the firebox.

It was nice and warm here, close to the stove. I leaned against the kitchen counter that faced the stove and slowly let myself sink down to the floor.

Having a halfway comfy sofa under my butt and freezing to death or sitting on the hard floor but having it nice and cozy, that was the question.

Wiggling my toes against the warmth, I decided for the latter. I could always go back to the sofa once I was thawed through and through.

“What are you doing?” someone suddenly said beside me.

I sleepily blinked my eyes open. “Sleeping,” I muttered.

“On the floor?”

“Yes!” I pulled the blanket up around my ears and closed my eyes again.

“You can’t sleep on the ground,” the persistent voice continued.

“Why not?”

“Because!”

“But it’s warm here…” I blinked a couple more times and looked up at whoever I was talking to. Oh, right, Mitch. My lodger. “I would have frozen to death on the sofa.”

He rolled his eyes. His face looked different without his glasses. Less… schoolmasterly, more approachable. “Get into bed,” he ordered.

“But… you’re in bed.”

“I won’t bite you.” He fumbled around on the outside of my blanket cocoon until he found my arms.

“But… warm!” I let him pull me to my feet, but kept reaching towards the stove.

“Bed!” he repeated.

I went into the bedroom, pouting at him over my shoulder, and laid down.

Mitch went out the back door and a cold wave of air came inside, making me snuggle into the covers deeper. His blanket was next to me. It would be warm too…

I pulled it over me, in addition to my own and sighed happily. Soft… warm…

I had dozed off again by the time Mitch came back inside. The bed dipped when he lay down next to me and searched for his blanket. I stiffened when he touched my back in his search.

“Did you steal my blanket?” he hissed.

I swallowed. Should I pretend to be asleep? No. “… maybe?” I slowly said.

He sighed and climbed under the covers with me. Cold clung to his clothes and he was damp from the rain, but that wasn’t the most noticeable thing about this whole situation.

I was in bed, with a man I had met less than 24 hours ago, in a cabin in the woods, all alone.

I swallowed.

He put his arm around my waist and pulled me against him.

I swallowed some more.

This felt soooo odd. The rational part of me wanted to escape from this situation. Who knew what kind of ideas my being so close would give him? But… did I even care if he happened to get any ideas? And wouldn’t it be very nice to snuggle against him even harder?

It would.

I decided for the middle ground.

I didn’t snuggle against him harder but I didn’t run away either. I simply stayed where I was and tried to relax.

The fact that two bodies heated up a small space much faster than one made relaxing easy. And if I pretended very hard I didn’t feel his breath against my neck or his chest against my back or his crotch against my butt, I might even be able to go back to sleep sometime before morning.

I hadn’t lain like this with anyone but Tristan for so long… Come to think of it, I hadn’t lain like this with Tris in quite a while either…

A soft sigh escaped my mouth as I relaxed against Mitch. It turned into a sniffle.

“No crying,” Mitch whispered from behind me, his words warm against my back.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

He pulled me against him tighter.

I closed my eyes.


	3. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our two heroes get chummy with each other... and things start to warm up.

Mitch was still asleep when I woke up in the morning. Rain softly drummed against the windows and despite the clock on the wall showing it was quarter past nine, barely any light made it to our level.

I freed myself from his embrace and climbed out of bed. One of his legs stuck out from under the blanket… a naked leg. Oh god. He… hadn’t worn any pants while sleeping with me?

I swallowed.

I still wore all of my clothes from yesterday… which had been nice during the night, but now I wanted nothing more than a change of underwear and a fresh t-shirt. And a sweater. The fire had almost gone out again and it was cool in the main room.

Carefully closing the door to the bedroom, I went to put a couple of logs into the firebox.

My ankle still hurt but it didn’t throb with my pulse any longer.

I put on my boots, not bothering to lace them. I only wanted the bucket from out back. The rain meant I wouldn’t have to go to the spring. One good thing at least!

I set up the coffeemaker and put it on the stove along with a pot to heat up some water for washing.

“Why are you on your feet?” Mitch suddenly said from the bedroom door. He was in a loose black t-shirt and boxers… and I had slept next to him, like that.

“Because you weren’t around to make me coffee,” I mumbled.

Mitch rubbed his face and went into the kitchen, grabbed me by the shoulders and moved me around the counter to sit down. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact he was in underwear.

I did my best not to be bothered by it as well and focused on his ruffled hair. That brought me to focus on my own hair… I must look just as ruffled.

“Did you… bring a comb by any chance?” I asked, self-consciously letting my fingers run over my ragged braid.

I generally liked my hair. The coppery color was all natural and got me a lot of jealous glances whenever I wore it open. Today, it was all tangled and tousled, which wasn’t a good look on me.

Mitch didn’t seem to mind. His gaze lingered on my fingers as I pulled apart the strands and worked out the knots before he went to get a brush from his backpack and handed it to me.

I took my time untangling everything and shook my head once I was done. Unbraided, my hair came to below my chest, all coppery waves. Brushing it usually didn’t take long but today I took my time, just because I liked Mitch’s glances. He seemed to have a hard time pouring us coffee while half watching me. I acted all unbothered, but I knew what I had seen.

We had a breakfast in relative silence; coffee with lots of milk for me and cereal with barely any milk but lots of cereal for Mitch, along with a cup of black coffee. Not what I would choose, but whatever made him happy.

The rain had gotten stronger since I had woken up.

Looked like we really would be cooped up here for a couple days longer. And… I could already smell myself.

“Just for completely unrelated reasons… how many shirts did you bring?” I asked over my coffee.

Mitch dropped the spoon in his cereal with a clatter and looked at me. “Sure you can borrow some clothes. Do you want some semen too while we’re at it?”

I choked and blinked at him.

He looked to the side. “Sorry, that was… uncalled for.”

“I didn’t know I would be… stuck here… Sorry,” I pouted. What the fuck!

Mitch stared into his cereal and didn’t say anything more. Great. Was he mad now or what? I didn’t say anything either. I hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t my fault that sow had been there yesterday. He had to realize that!

I put my cup with the dishes from yesterday and tested the water with my hand. It was warm enough to wash up. Turning my back towards Mitch I took off my shirt. He was in underwear, so I might as well get undressed too.

Mitch sat so he faced me but said nothing. He was completely unfazed. I hated to admit this to myself, but that was kind of disappointing. Why was it disappointing though? I didn’t care about what he thought of me…

He got up and took his bowl into the kitchen, stepping around me as he did so. He didn’t touch me or say anything, but stepped into the bedroom instead and came back with a t-shirt which he put on the kitchen counter next to me before he retreated to the sofa.

I finished my catbath and pulled his shirt over my head.

Mitch still hadn’t said anything by the time I was done. “You want to wash too?” I asked, limping into the living room, focused on tucking Mitch’s shirt in my pants in an attempt to look somewhat fashionable despite the ill fit of it.

He put the book he had been reading to the side and got up.

I sat down, decidedly not looking at him but at his book instead. It was a huge volume with a boring looking blue cover. The title said _Veterinary Epidemiology_... whatever that was. I opened it to a random page to read a couple lines… understanding about every third word of it. No thank you!

I slammed the book shut again and almost choked when I looked up. Mitch had taken off his shirt and dumped it on the floor. As I watched him, he slipped off his boxers too, presenting me with a very nice and firm looking backside with just a small amount of hair at the small of his back. Completely unfazed by my choking noises he took the pot by the handles and carried it outside, stark naked.

Well… that had been… unexpected.

I made myself comfortable by the window, watching the rain and kind of losing myself in it and letting my thoughts wander… far away from any naked men in my close vicinity.

He had been unfazed by me, so I would damn well be unfazed by him too.

And in any case, he had other things to worry about. His father and his ex-girlfriend would get married in a couple of days. Just because I needed some rebound after Tristan, something or someone to occupy my mind with, didn’t mean Mitch felt the same.

I vaguely noticed him come back inside but kept on staring out the window, watching the raindrops run down the glass and the leaves outside jump with each drop that hit them.

He sat down behind me, on the sofa, and took up his book again, saying nothing. Introverts were jovial like that. They didn’t need constant chatter to fill the silence.

I had no idea how long we spent like that, the clock on the wall was ticking away the seconds, minutes, hours and I didn’t care. Nothing changed either outside or in. It was absolutely, mind-blowingly boring on the one side, but incredibly relaxing and almost meditative on the other. Doing absolutely nothing and knowing there was absolutely nothing to do at the same time.

Except for... I felt the air around us grow cooler again and moved to get up.

“Oww…” I hissed.

Mitch looked up, alerted.

I waved him off. “Just… legcramp…” Groaning and grimacing I remained standing where I was, half standing, and waited for the cramp to pass.

“Come here,” Mitch muttered, putting his book back on the table.

I carefully sat back down, grimacing, and he took my legs up on his lap, pushing my pants up to my knee and gently massaging my calf, pushing into the muscles here and there until the cramp passed.

“How does the ankle feel?” he said when he noticed my face relax, moving his kneading fingers downwards, carefully stretching and bending my foot.

“Like… oww…” I pulled away, “don’t do that!”

“Sorry,” he said and moved up to my calf again.

Our gazes met and something I couldn’t quite put a name on happened. Time seemed to lose the little meaning it still had and I fell down into the void of his dark brown eyes. His fingers on my leg felt incredibly warm and I wanted more of that warmth, more of his skin, more of his touch.

Mitch’s gaze wandered to my mouth and his tongue darted out to lick his lips.

Something deep inside of me cramped at the thought of that tongue on me. I whimpered and reached for his face. I wanted to pet him, feel him.

He moved out of my reach and pulled my hand down, holding on to me a second longer, but the moment had passed. He had… rejected me.

“Sorry,” I muttered and let my feet slide down to the floor. Limping through the room, I heard him take up his book again. What had just happened between us? I didn’t dare look back at him for fear he wouldn’t be looking at me. What if… No. It didn’t matter. He didn’t like me like that. Message received.

I put a couple more logs into the stove and, in an attempt to stay away from him, got out a mixing bowl, flour and yeast. That had been too awkward. Trying to touch him… what had I been thinking?

“What are you doing?” Mitch asked from the living room. His voice had an odd quality to it… did he feel bad about what had just happened?

“Making bread,” I said, careful to make my voice sound neutral.

“You know how to make bread?”

I snorted. “Sure… it’s not that hard.”

He came towards me and sat down on the other side of the kitchen counter, watching me.

I looked up at him for just a moment before I focused back on my dough, moving the bowl towards him so he could see what I was doing.

Had he really rejected me? Maybe he just didn’t like being touched in the face? He had come after me after all. And I knew myself. I was prone to misreading signals.

I focused back on the dough. That was something I knew how to do. Knead. There was no misreading signals with dough. Men were something entirely different. Women were even worse than that.

“And now?” Mitch said when I put the bowl next to the warm stove.

“Now we wait,” I laughed.

And just like that, things were back to normal.

“Wanna play?” Mitch mentioned to the deck of cards still resting on the counter.

“Play what?”

“Whatever you know how to play.”

“Umm… My dad taught me how to poker when I was a kid… I haven’t played in a while though.”

“I’ll go easy on you then,” Mitch said, smiling, and got up to look through the supply cupboard.

He placed a bottle of bourbon on the counter, looking at me questioningly as he got two glasses.

I grinned. “Nice.”

The next couple of hours were all a blur. We drank and played and laughed. We played for toothpicks, so nothing much was lost or won, but my stacks had been growing and growing ever since we’d started. I was doing good.

“How about… we raise the stakes a little!” I said, emboldened by my lucky streak and definitely not the alcohol. Half of the bottle was gone already.

Mitch grinned at me. “Want to play for logs instead of toothpicks?”

“Not exactly… I’ll play you for your shirt,” I said instead.

“You’re already wearing my shirt.” He tugged at my sleeve.

“Yea, but I want the one you’re wearing!”

He raised an eyebrow and a slow smile spread on his face. “Alright.”

What happened then was… sobering.

Apparently Mitch had been holding back up to now. With the stakes raised, he didn’t hold back any longer.

Within half an hour, I was left in my underwear while he was still wearing his pants and socks. And I had the feeling my one win when he had “lost” his shirt had been on purpose from his side.

“Maybe we should stop playing,” he grinned, looking me up and down shamelessly.

I had pulled up my legs and was hiding behind my knees. A smart person would probably stop. I considered myself smart… but bourbon made me stupid, it seemed. “No! I have a feeling lady luck is going to turn on you… on me?” I muttered, not sure how exactly the saying went. I took the cards and awkwardly shuffled them around my knees.

“Just don’t say I didn’t give you an out,” Mitch said and cut the cards.

“Yea, alright… maybe that was a stupid idea,” I muttered not five minutes later. I put my cards down and reached towards my back to unhook my bra.

Mitch put his hand on my arm. “Don’t,” he said.

I frowned at him. Didn’t he want to… “Thou shalt honor thy betting debts!” I said, but stopped anyways.

“Debt forgiven,” Mitch laughed.

I laughed as well and got up. The clock on the wall said it was five in the afternoon. How quickly time went, when you were having fun… or getting embarrassed.

Outside, it was still raining heavily. The drumming of the raindrops on the roof and windows was comfortable. The flickering of the candles we had lit again made me feel warmer than it really was… or maybe that was the alcohol.

“I’ll have to leave a five star review about the view on your site,” Mitch said when I bent over to put another log into the stove.

Confused, I half turned around. What was he… oh! He was looking at my backside. I grinned and wiggled my ass for him before I reached for one of the shirts that lay discarded on the floor and pulled it over my head. It wasn’t quite long enough to cover my ass completely, but Mitch had already seen everything anyways.

It was warm in the kitchen and I didn’t feel like wearing pants, so I continued working on my bread pantsless.

Funny, how quickly two strangers could get chummy with each other when they were locked in a secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere together… and had booze on top of that.

“Hey, can you get some more wood from the stack out back?”

Mitch nodded. He pulled on the other shirt and sniffed. “I think we switched shirts.”

“Who brings two identical black shirts anywhere anyways?”

“I actually brought five identical black shirts,” he said, reaching for his boots.

I snorted. “Well, sorry. Want to switch back?

He shook his head. “I’m good if you are.”

I shrugged. “Good!”

He stepped outside and I took a deep sniff of my shirt. Yea, we had definitely switched. Nice. I wiggled my shoulders and grinned to myself.

The room nicely warmed up when I stoked up the fire to bake my bread. The aroma filled the whole cabin and I could hardly wait for it to be done. We hadn’t really eaten anything all day… except for the liquid refreshments we had taken.

My head felt quite woozy when I sat back down on the sofa again after cleaning up in the kitchen.

“Foot up,” Mitch said, barely looking up from his book.

I half turned and put both my feet on his lap.

That made him look up. Ha!

“What?” I said, acting all innocent.

“Nothing,” he shook his head and focused on his book again, letting one hand rest on my knee.

I took my love novel and opened it to the dog eared page, carefully straightening it. Mitch’s fingers softly playing over my skin made it kind of hard to focus on the words before me though. My head was too occupied with imagining what it would feel like if he let those fingers move upwards…

“You have been staring at that same page for over ten minutes,” Mitch said, not looking up.

“Have I? Well, I’m a slow reader,” I muttered, hastily turning the page. I had no idea what was going on in my novel and I didn’t really care.

“You keep telling yourself that,” he muttered, half smiling.

“We can’t all be nerds now, can we?” I countered.

Mitch laughed out loud and put down his book to look at me. “I don’t think I have been called a nerd in the past… fifteen years,” he said.

I laughed as well. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

He waved me off and put his hand back on my knee, absentmindedly. Or was he doing this on purpose? Fuck, I wished he would move his hand upwards… Instead, he started playing with my kneecap.

“Stop that!” I laughed and pulled away.

He defensively lifted his hands and I slipped out from under him. I had to look after my bread.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him look after me.

The bread needed some more time. With wood burning stoves, it was kind of hard to time it exactly, so I’d just have to keep on checking.

I filled our glasses again and took them to the living room with me, making sure to sit a little closer this time. Mitch could hardly say he didn’t enjoy this.

“If we continue at this rate, three bottles won’t be enough,” Mitch said, taking his glass from me.

“Good thing I stocked five… I figured it wouldn’t turn bad, so…” I grinned at him.

I put my legs on his lap again, my knees over his thighs this time and he put his hands on top, raising his glass towards me. “To us.”

“To us,” I agreed. We clinked glasses and took careful sips.

He kept his glass up and looked into the amber liquid.

“You alright?” I said after a moment.

He downed the rest of his drink and nodded. “Will be.” Putting down his glass, he placed his second hand on my thigh and looked down at my legs, starting to trace patterns only he could see with his right index finger.

I leaned back and watched him, sipping my drink. This was nice. Innocent and erotic at the same time.

His fingers wandered up and down, brushing over me gently like a butterfly’s wings. I stretched my arm towards him on the backrest and touched his shoulder, gently caressing him as he did me.

He looked up for just a second before focusing on his fingers again.

Should we kiss? Would we regret kissing tomorrow? Probably…

I licked my lips.

A particularly loud crack from the stove made us both start. The magic moment was over.

I got up and went to check on my bread.

We had a candle-lit dinner of freshly baked bread and butter and had another nightcap before deciding to go to sleep.

Without thinking twice about it, I took my blanket from the bed and put it on the sofa.

“What are you doing?” Mitch asked.

“Umm… going to sleep?”

“You’ll be freezing again!”

“So… you want to sleep with me… again?” I muttered, fighting to hide the smile that wanted out.

“Yes!”

“Well, if you so desperately want me to…” I shrugged, grinning broadly.

Mitch exhaled. “Or stay on the sofa, I don’t care!”

“Oh but you DO care!” I kept on grinning and took a step towards him, blanket over my shoulders like a cape.

Mitch rolled his eyes and stepped into the bedroom, taking off his pants.

I followed him into bed and made myself comfortable. Hesitating for a second, I unhooked my bra and took it off without getting out of my shirt.

Exhaling contently, I closed my eyes.

The bed shook a little when Mitch sat down and got comfortable before blowing out the last of the candles.

I waited, wondering if he’d want to cuddle again, but decided I did want to and moved towards him. We had been getting closer over the course of the day and I wasn’t about to let that go again.

Taking his arm, I laid my head on his chest and put his arm around me. I couldn’t see his face, but when he pulled me tighter and even put his free hand on my waist I knew he liked it.

We were warm and comfortably drunk and I fell asleep quickly.


	4. Night 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now things almost boil over!

Waking up in the middle of the night, I got up to put some more wood into the stove.

Rain was still relentlessly drumming on the roof and windows and the trees outside and the cabin groaned under the wind. A cool draft came from somewhere, but at that moment, I didn’t care. I just wanted to get back into bed.

Mitch was sleeping on his side, breathing calm and evenly. I moved towards him and spooned him from the back. Body warmth was the best kind of warmth after all and as a good hostess I had to make sure my lodger wasn’t cold, right?

The exposed back of his neck was cool to the touch, but I would quickly warm him back up.

The fact that he smelled divine had nothing to do with any of it.

Inhaling his scent, I moved closer towards him, pressing my face up against him, feeling his skin with my nose and lips.

Shit, I should stop this. I couldn’t… Or could I?

Opening my lips just the tiniest bit, I pressed a kiss to his skin. The close contact sent shivers through my whole body.

Mitch stirred and I felt his hand reach for mine where it rested on his side, pulling it forward and onto his chest.

Holy shit! What were we doing?

My fingers started moving over his chest almost of their own accord at the same time as he moved his ass backwards against me, so we lay against each other for the full length of our bodies.

I draped my leg over his hips and he reached one hand down to pet my naked thigh.

It was completely dark and neither of us spoke a word. We were just two people enjoying what was happening; feeling and exploring, acting and reacting. It felt magical.

My fingers scratched over his chest, wishing the thin fabric of his shirt to just melt away. My lips were still on his neck, open just a little bit, breathing on him. Should I… kiss him again? Could I?

Closing the tiny amount of distance between the two of us, I pressed my lips against his flesh again, pulling down the neck of his shirt just a little so I could get to a different spot than before. He smelled so good, I wanted more of that. Would he taste as good as he smelled?

I let the tip of my tongue slide over him, tasting him.

It made parts of me quiver with desire and I pulled him closer against me without even thinking twice about it, rolling my hips against him. Fuck, I wanted his shirt gone… and his boxers. And while we were at it, my shirt and panties as well.

“Turn around,” Mitch suddenly whispered, his voice sounding loud in the silence.

I pulled my hand away, hesitantly. Had I done something wrong?

“Turn around,” he said again and I started moving.

I couldn’t see what he was doing behind me and I didn’t dare ask, but suddenly he was pressed against me from behind, holding me just like I had held him a second ago. He pushed his hand under my neck so he could embrace me completely and I rolled my butt against his front, feeling mighty proud when something hard-ish pushed against me.

Last night, this had been all about warmth. Now, this was so much more.

I shivered when he nuzzled his nose into my hair and pressed his lips against my skin. A tiny whimper found its way from my throat. Mitch’s body answered me, pushing against my butt.

I found one of his hands with mine and our fingers interlaced. The other hand, the one on top, moved over my stomach. Slowly. Upwards and downwards, caressing me, pushing my shirt up and back down again with each stroke.

I wished he would move a little farther up… or a little farther down… or under my shirt…

I gave his hand a squeeze and rolled my butt against him once more. Letting my one free hand move backwards, I found his naked side… Fuck! He had taken off his shirt! He had Taken. Off. His Shirt!

Another whimper found its way from my throat. Carefully feeling my way downwards, I swallowed when I found he still wore his boxers… but nothing else.

I wanted to turn around and push him onto his back… and sit on top of him… My thighs grinded against each other and Mitch’s arm wandered downward, over my hip, over my thigh and back up again, tracing the seam of my panties for just a moment… and finally… FINALLY… finding his way under my shirt and upwards, upwards, just until he met the underside of my breasts. My breathing sped up with anticipation.

I pushed against him over the full length of my body and he let out a low groan.

“We… shit, we shouldn’t do this,” he suddenly said and pulled his hand out from under my shirt.

“What?”

“I feel like… I’m taking advantage of you.” He pulled his other arm out from under my neck.

“What? How… how would you take advantage of me?”

“The only reason you’re here is because you’re injured.”

“Yea, on my ankle, not on my head…”

“And you’re heartbroken…” He moved backwards, away from me.

Tears filled my eyes. “So are you!”

“That’s different.”

“How?” I rolled over and pushed up to my elbow so I could look down at him, even though it was much too dark to see anything.

“It just is.” He rolled over and sat up, stepping out of bed.

I felt my lips tremble. How could he do this? Taking advantage of me… “I might be injured… I might be heartbroken, but I’m not some idiot who just lets men take advantage of her.” I said, following the dark shape of his body with my eyes as he moved towards the bedroom door.

I heard him put some more wood into the stove and the sofa creaked as he sat or laid down on it.

He hadn’t taken his blanket. It was cold out.

Angrily I got up and took his blanket with me, limping to the sofa and tossing it over him before moving back towards the bedroom.

“Thank you,” I heard him mutter.

“Yea, whatever…”


End file.
